In recent years, automobiles and other vehicles have become increasingly integrated with onboard computing systems, software and other related technologies. Virtually every feature in today's standard automobile has become reliant on one form of computer or another. From computer-controlled engine timing and emission technologies, to global positioning and navigation systems, the automobile is quickly becoming a collection of software and hardware systems that provide a wide variety of features to drivers and passengers.
Much research has gone into providing driver assistance and auto driving capabilities in the automobile. For example, advanced parking guidance systems have surfaced, which aid the driver in parallel parking the automobile and in other similar situations. Some manufacturers have also implemented on-board emergency response systems, such as Onstar, in case of accidents or automobile collisions. However, there is still much room for improvement by way of automated assistance during everyday driving.
In daily driving situations, hazardous conditions or events often occur which require quick response on the part of a driver of an automobile. For example, a flooded area of a road, the presence of an emergency vehicle or an accident may occur rapidly on the road network. Communication of warnings regarding such events and their respective locations would often be helpful and facilitate a quick response on the part of warned drivers. Most of today's standard non-broadcast communication methods, such as cellular telephones, are not well suited for such uses because they generally require some kind of identity (e.g. phone number) of the person intended to be warned, which is not readily available in most emergency situations. In addition, the time taken to use a cell phone, radio or other device is excessively long since the warned vehicle may have very little time to adjust speed or change lanes before encountering the hazardous or otherwise risky situation. Even though identifiers are not needed for broadcast technologies, time and bandwidth limitations still apply.
In the past, drivers have given independent and anonymous warnings to other drivers of significant events or locations of things by direct short-range broadcast communications, such as citizen's band (CB) radio, or by flashing headlights to warn oncoming drivers of the presence of hazards in the road (e.g. broken-down vehicles or emergency vehicles). However, these types of warnings are severely limited in many ways. For example, the flashing headlights fail to specify anything about the hazardous event, such as its description, location, importance and other information. By using CB radio, the driver may be able to provide some verbal instructions, however this is often too imprecise and too time-consuming to provide any significant benefit, in addition to being cumbersome to use. Furthermore, most drivers do not carry CB radios and do not wish to continuously listen for various transmissions while driving the vehicle. As such, another approach is needed.
Recently, the Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) protocol has been created to specifically address communications within the context of automotive use. DSRC is a wireless RFID-based technology, mainly used for communications between automobiles and roadside equipment, such as automatic toll collection machinery and the like. DSRC has also been proposed for use between automobiles for various purposes.
Generally, it is undesirable for communications to require extensive dedicated infrastructure, such as road-side transmitting equipment, since such equipment is likely to be concentrated spatially and not be pervasive across a road network. A method is needed to spread anonymous location-dependent information quickly within a local area at the will of a driver or other vehicle occupant and without requiring extensive infrastructure. Furthermore, it is desirable that the information spread quickly and efficiently, without requiring knowledge of driver and automobile identity or other dedicated information. Applicant has identified the foregoing, as well as other shortcomings and needs which currently exist in the art in coming to conceive the subject matter of the present disclosure.